Damn! Last night I got the pop out of first, probably about the 4th time it's happened. Happens the same way every time, just leaving from a dead stop. Loud as hell, quite unnerving.

Back to Five Star Land.

 

Sorry to hear it...hopefully the dealer will take care of it without any delays at this point. Know that once it is taken care of, (at least for me) there haven't been any more problems.

Just curious, how many miles do you have on your XFire?

 

Krusty,

Sorry to hear about it. If it popped once it'll keep doing it till it's fixed. Drive it straight over to Scottsdale and let them go for it. The good news is that it is a well documented problem on some of the earlier cars. If memory serves me correctly, they don't swap the transmission anymore but do open it up to fix the first gear syncros.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Just a little bit under 4K. First time it happened it probably had about 3,500 or so. That's the thing, I figured I was in the clear since it had been fine for the first few thousand miles.

 

Taking it in Thursday morning for the radiator hose recall and the popping out of first.

Does anyone have experience with the linkage fix vs. new transmission installation? Can it be done in a day?

My service advisor didn't seem to be up on that TSB, she offered me the shuttle ride and I said I'd rather have a car just in case it took longer than a day.

Funny thing about that recall notice is that I think that's the first one I've gotten where a manufacturer is trying to cover their own hide. I think it's obvious they're concerned that a bunch of Crossfire engines are going to be spraying rods all over the street and that obviously wouldn't be a good thing. On the other hand I'm sure it's safe to say all of us here are smart enough to pull over when the temp gauge hits the roof.

 

If all the parts are on hand, and they have a FULL day to drop the transmission, pull it apart, replace the synchros, put back together, re-install, and test. . . yes, but probably not.

Just give them the TSB info so they can pull it up. It will save everyone time =)

Yep. They saw something that could be an issue down the road *no pun intended. Instead of fixing it once it is broken, do it now Besides the coolant would slowly leak out. Any car person would know the smell of it right away and be at the dealer long before the car even had a chance to over heat. Its not like it cuts the hose in half! It "might" wear a hole into the side of the hose after a long time of it rubbing on the fan housing.

 

krusty,

Orignally they were doing some kind of adjustment that did not entail opening up the transmission. It never really fixed the problem. The next step was to replace the transmission with a new one as they did on my car. Now as DFWSB said above... they just repair the first gear syncros. I would just make sure they have everything on hand to do the job. They should easily be able to do it in one day. Clarify it before you take your car in.

I had a "transplant"... your just having a "by-pass". Good luck.

 

Well, here's the latest: Took my car in this morning for the recall and the pop out of first issue. I didn't mention anything to the service writer about the TSB I was aware of, I want to test them to see if they are up on their stuff (does that make me an A-hole? I don't know, you decide).

I just got a call from the service writer with the inevitable "the tech can't duplicate your problem" deal. I explained the situations under which I was encountering the problem, but made it crystal clear that it was not a constant thing and was quite random. You might go two weeks without it happening and then have it happen twice on the same day. I then said I belonged to a Crossfire club where some Chrysler employees are members, and they've posted a TSB on it (thanks to DFW and others for doing this valued public service). So that's where we stand, she's going to check through the TSBs and will hopefully get this straightened out. In the meantime, I have a PT Cruiser Turbo to get me around. First time I've driven one of those. Not bad, feels like a minivan to me.

 

Update: Service writer called me back, she found the TSB and mine falls within the serial numbers. Says they'll get the parts today or, if they have to, will overnight parts from Japan. Promised it will be done tomorrow. So that's cool, I wasn't expecting it to get done today anyway.

 

The parts are coming from Japan???

 

Sorry, bad joke. See BobaFettum's tagline.

 

Got my car back this morning, all I can say is Wow! What an improvement. The kit they install for the popping out of first issue improves everything about the whole 6 speed experience. The throws are much more precise and let's just say I have my confidence back.

 

Mine has always been very tough going into first. I was wondering if you found that is better also. what is your build number? I may have them do this since my dealer is going to have it for three more days since they pulled the whole rear end out. See "bad day for my CF " for details.

 

Mine is 4934. I would ask if yours falls within the serial numbers applicable to the TSB and have it done if it is. Even if you haven't had the specific pop out issue. Trust me, it's worth it. I'm convinced that if yours falls within the serial numbers it isn't a matter of if yours will start popping out but when. I'm still amazed at the difference. I would bet that the bitching about the notchy throws in the initial reviews would not have happened if they functioned like mine does post kit install.